Step 6 Present Moment: When you embrace the present moment you are mindful

When you embrace the present moment you are mindful, alive, and aware. Without awareness, change can never happen. Awareness is the first step in the Pathway of Change created by Rhonda Britten. When you take your awareness into the present moment you can choose to change in the right now. The possibility and opportunity to change your path only exists in the present moment, which is where life happens. When you look to the past to gain lessons learned and reflect on your feelings, even in those moments you are in the present. When you are looking forward to using your thoughts and feelings to project the future you are in the present. Whether looking forward or looking back you only have the present moment. We literally are made up of present moments and added together these moments define us.

Are you a storyteller? I remember in my youth learning how to tell a good story in a training at school. I was singled out with one other boy in my class and got to learn the ins and out of great storytelling. I have been in musical theater all my life and I have a great imagination, so maybe I was an easy pick from the other kids in my class. It was so fun and I learned a new way to entertain people. I still remember a lot of the story.

In life though making up stories can be detrimental to our lives. I’m talking about the stories we make up about our lives. “They don’t like me”, or “They did it on purpose”, or “No one cares about me”. Or countless other stories that we make up to fill in the gaps of our understanding.

Our tool for you this month is my favorite from Fearless Living. “Are you making it up, or is it true?” When I started my journey, I asked myself this question every day. Sometimes several times a day. I discovered I was assuming or making up a lot. Not only about others, but about myself as well. I started questioning everything I told myself. Learning that you are making up a lot of your “reality” isn’t easy to take. Yet it freed me from a lot of limiting beliefs and perceived conflict.

It took me having conversations with people and getting the facts of the situation. I took me taking a hard look at myself and my excuses that I had been using to play small and to not take risks. Letting go of the lies freed me to see a clearer happier reality in front of me. This can happen for you too.

*Information is taken from the Pathway of Change Workshop

created by Rhonda Britten and her best-selling book Fearless Living. As well as our numerous years of coaching and learning.